El Salvador Deeply Split On Ways To End Insurrection

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- Despite recent efforts to seek reconciliation under a new regional peace accord, El Salvador appeared as deeply polarized as ever on Tuesday.

The country`s inability to find political answers to its long military conflict is a measure of the difficulties in applying the peace treaty signed by the presidents of the five major Central American states in August.

Three days before effective measures to carry out the peace treaty are to be announced, El Salvador offers a gloomy portent for the future. The government and leftist guerrillas are far apart on finding a way to end the war that has killed more than 60,000 Salvadorans since 1979. During the weekend, the rebels broke off peace talks and stepped up military actions.

Government officials say they intend to announce measures for a partial cease-fire and a general amnesty of political prisoners later this week. They previously lifted a state of siege and permitted more open access to the press and political demonstrations.

But tensions were high on Tuesday as the country was paralyzed by a national ban on transportation imposed by the Marxist-led rebel Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front.

The ban came in time to greet Mayor Edward I. Koch of New York who briefly visited the country during a tour of Central America. Koch met leading Salvadoran officials, warning that El Salvador`s image abroad was not very positive, but pledging to seek support for the elected government.

Leftist rebels say they have taken hard measures to protest the assassination last week of a leading human rights official. The assassination of Herbert Anaya Sanabria was carried out by two gunmen in a harsh reminder of past killings of leftists that have sharply declined here, but that have never been completely eliminated.

The rebels appear to have seized on the killing as an opportunity to break off deadlocked peace talks with the government. Their stance underlines the guerrillas` pledge to wage a 20-year ``prolonged popular war,`` if necessary, to defeat the government. The rebels have previously criticized the regional peace accord because it calls on all countries to stop aiding guerrillas.

The guerrillas met twice in the last month with government representatives under the terms of the regional peace accord. The rebels insisted on a direct share of power, while the government demanded that they give up their guns and take part in elections.